Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all.

I'm a transport consultant, currently doing a lot of work related to the renewal of the GW rail franchise.

Since finding this forum, I've been very impressed with the knowledge and level of detail that go into member posts, and I hope you don't mind if I run some of my ideas by you all on here.

I'm also looking forward to commenting on other matters, as and when appropriate.

Welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, regnir - and thanks for introducing yourself here.

I'm sure you'll enjoy joining in with our sometimes rather lively discussions!  :)

Thanks Chris. I'm sure I will be able to hold my own  ;D

Hi, Regnir

I'm following up with a rather belated welcome, as it looks as if you and I may be doing rather a lot of detailed discussion on some issues such as the Transwilts - I note you've posted a most interesting item this morning following me up ( http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10068.30 ), and you might be rather surprised just how much support you'll get on some of those, even when they provide an element of overlap / you might say competition with some of the rail proposals.   I'll leave the detail of that to other threads.

One question I have for you, though, is to ask for a bit more background.   Most of us have an agenda of some sort, and a knowledge base of some sort too, and it really helps others to know where we're coming from. 

Personally, I live and run a business in Melksham where we receive a lot of visitors (it's nowhere near the station, so we don't stand to gain ourselves by selling cream teas to people waiting for trains, or anything like that), and I travel by train and bus where I can on business and occasionally on leisure, preferring those modes to the car.  Many years ago - in my youth and just beyond - I was a regular commuter, with no especial knoweldge.  For about the last 10 years, I've welcomed visitors to our business who've arrived by train, and I've taken something of wider interest in the whole business, future service, operational and financial aspects etc.  I remain an amateur in that no-ones paying me - that allows me to remain impartial, but it makes it bloomin awkard at times to meet up with people and as we move into the next franchise, you'll find we have elements in place to ensure that useful public transport services in this corridor will have support services from the community behind them to succeed.  I think I know a bit about our local area, a bit about many other things, but I've a lot to learn too and sometimes can see a stonkingly good idea coming from someone even in a post that the author suspect may be taken negatively.  There's actually one "durr - of course" in your post which I'll be taking a deeper look at.

What about your background, local connections, paymasters, etc along similar lines, regnir?

Edited to add URL of the other thread to which I referred

Thank you for that further welcome, grahame.

As far as my background goes, I hail from the north of England, and I cut my transport teeth with a number of roles with various PTEs.

When the 2000s came along, I realised that the real money was to be made from consultancy, and that to get a real piece of the pie, I would have to move to London. This I did, and have been here ever since. Don^t make the mistake of thinking that I am some out-of-touch capital dweller though. I have travelled extensively on the GW rail network, and feel that I know my brief inside out as a result.

I am aware that your associates have written at length about people like me and how we operated during that period. It may surprise you to learn that I was once very much an idealist in the Lee Fletcher mould, but I^m afraid that my life experiences have tempered that idealism somewhat since then.

That said, although we very clearly don^t agree on the TransWilts issue, I do think that you, Lee, Chris Hankin and the rest of your team come out with some very knowledgeable stuff at times, and I have a fair deal of respect for your views on a range of matters. The rank-and-file members of the forum know what they are talking about too, which is why I look in here on a regular basis.

Agendas and paymasters? Other than to confirm that my current work is related to the renewal of the GW franchise, I^m afraid that I am unable to be any more specific than that, due to being bound by confidentiality clauses.

What I can absolutely guarantee though is that any posts I make on here will entirely reflect my own personal views. I have no desire to be a mouthpiece for anyone I may or may not work for, and those who may read what I say on here should be under no illusions regarding that.

I'm looking forward to this. ...

Edit note I have removed the rest of the content of this post, after a request to remove it was made to me using words like "urgency" and "lawyer".   The decision has been made reluctantly and may be temporary once I have had the opportunity to review the situation.  The moderator team needs to err on the side of caution when it receives a request worded like this, but also to ensure that in the longer term a fair outcome results however strong the request to remove / review was.  This note will be updated in due course as appropriate. - Graham

Updated, next day.  The post (which related to a side issue) was written in a vein intended to be humours, but that wasn't clear to everyone. These board are public readable, and as such we need to be very careful of the possibility of things being interpretted in a way that's not intended.  The post will remain trimmed, and my apology to anyone who took offence.  I am assured that this "won't EVER happen again" - Graham

I can think of more than half a dozen companies who run, or are aspiring to run, some trains along the TransWilts, and I think it's possible that you're working for one of them, right ;-) . And whilst you can't tell us who it is, I'm sure that what you're posting here isn't going to conflict with their interest, as well as lining up with your personal view.   There's a natural jockeying for position going on - and rightly in a competitive bid situation - between the bidders, and as part of that they (and their agents) will want to have the goal posts set to give them the best chance of scoring a goal when the ball is finally kicked from various positions in a penalty shootout.  What makes me uncomfortable about this sometimes is that people use the convenience of "confidentially" to be selective in what they put forward; I'm not saying it's the case with what you're saying, ringer, but such past experiences have turned out to be bitter ones, and to this day there are a number of "independents" around who aren't.  Most have the good of rail in their hearts, but will look to skew things substantially for their paymaster's agenda, sometimes to the detriment of a level playing field.

A suggestion.  We have a very great deal of information / material / thoughts / local knowledge available, and we already know that you have some thoughts which may be "left field" but may actually be rather good.   Rather than continue to explore this in a forum where you can't be open with us, should we arrange to meet so that we can learn more of your thoughts, and we can update you on some of the many changes that have taken place over the past couple of years  - i.e. after the time at which you formed your views?  Hopefully that extra information from us will help better inform you for the work you're currently doing.

See also http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10068.msg112063#msg112063